Absentee voting for Ohio's May primary begins today

Voting by absentee ballot and early in-person voting for the May 6 primary began Tuesday at Ohio's 88 county boards of elections.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted's office said Tuesday county boards of elections had already received nearly 24,000 requests for absentee ballots. They began mailing out the ballots today.

This may be the last election in which Ohio voters have 35 days before the election to cast a ballot. A bill passed by Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. John Kasich will limit the early voting period to 29 days in November and future elections.

But Ohio Democratic Party leaders say they may go to court to stop the law from going into effect.

Voters who want to cast an absentee ballot have until noon Saturday, May 3 to request an absentee ballot by contacting their county boards of elections or by downloading an absentee ballot application at MyOhioVote.com, a website run by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

Voters receiving absentee ballots must complete, sign and seal their voted ballot, "taking care to provide the required information, including proper identification,'' according to a release from Husted's office. Voted ballots must be postmarked the day before the election and received no later than 10 days after the election. Voters can also return them in person to their county boards of elections no later than the closing of the polls on election day.

In-person early voting at boards of election began today as well.

Husted recently issued a directive setting early in-person voting hours for all 88 counties in Ohio. They are:

- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., from today through Friday.

- 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday, April 7.

- 8 a.m to 5 p.m. from Tuesday, April 8 through Friday, April 11.

- 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, from April 14 through May 2.

- 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday, May 3.

Voter registration forms are available at MyOhioVote.com, from county boards of elections, or at libraries and Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices.

Voters can also check on whether or not their voting addresses are up to date at MyOhioVote.com. MyOhioVote.com also contains links to the websites of all of Ohio's county boards of elections. There, you can find out what candidate races and issues are on your county's ballot.

The polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. on election day.